Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Church of England: Philip Giddings survives lay vote

The chair of the Church of England’s House of Laity, Dr Philip
Giddings, has won a controversial vote to remove him from the position.

Lay members gathering at Church House in Westminster, central London, last Friday afternoon debated whether Dr Giddings was fit to represent them
after he took a strong stance against women bishops legislation in last
November’s General Synod debate.The legislation to allow women into the episcopate secured the
required two-thirds majority among bishops and clergy, but was six votes
short in the House of Laity.

Some lay members suggested Dr Giddings’ speech to Synod, in which he
suggested the traditionalist minority would be excluded from the Church,
had unfairly swayed wavering members into voting down the legislation.Other lay members questioned whether there was a conflict of interest
between Dr Giddings’ role as chair of the House of Laity and his
involvement in traditionalist groups like GAFCON and Anglican
Mainstream.Timothy Allen, of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said: “This is not a healthy situation."

Canon Stephen Barney, who brought the motion of no confidence against
Dr Giddings, said the defeat of the women bishops legislation had
“injured the reputation and mission of our church”.“I feel deeply ashamed of this,” he said.

Mr Barney accused Dr Giddings of being “partisan and narrow” during
the General Synod debate and, with the majority of dioceses supporting
women bishops, suggested he no longer had the authority and respect of
the House to act and speak on its behalf.

“[Today’s debate] is not in any way to impugn the integrity of Dr
Giddings. I am also not suggesting that any ordinary member should do
anything other than speak his or her mind on this or any other issue,”
he said.“It is about what is appropriate conduct for someone with substantial
influence, the most senior member in the largest constituency in the
Church of England.”However, Mr Barney faced accusations of “unchristian” behaviour from
lay members who suggested the motion of no confidence was bringing the
Church further into disrepute.Mrs Debrah McIsaac, of the Diocese of Salisbury, said Dr Giddings was
being made into a “scapegoat”, while Mrs Joanna Monckton, of the
Diocese of Lichfield, said the vote was “cruel” and sent the message of
an “intolerant” Church.However, there was broad agreement on both sides of the need for greater clarity regarding the role of the chair.Dr Giddings survived the vote of no confidence with 80 votes against, to 47 for. There were 13 abstentions.Addressing the House of Laity after the vote, said he was “grateful” for the outcome and intended to continue in office.He agreed that changes needed to be made, including a dialogue on the nature of the chair.“I need to, in a sense, take my own medicine,” he said. “I will take careful advice from colleagues as to how we proceed from
here … I hope and pray that we can now put this behind us and that
temperatures can be lowered.”